Many businesses in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai closed on Wednesday as protesters from a low-caste community blocked traffic and shopping malls and staged sit-ins on railway lines after clashes with right-wing Hindus.The call for a general strike across the western state of Maharashtra led to largely peaceful protests, but life in many parts of Mumbai was disrupted with Dalits pelting buses with stones and deflating tires in some areas. Railway lines and some major roads leading into the city were blocked.The Dalits, who rank at the bottom in India’s ancient caste hierarchy, called the strike in protest against attacks from right-wing groups in the city of Pune on Monday. The strike shut businesses and schools in Mumbai and other cities across the state.“The government didn’t arrest the perpetrators of violence in Pune. Hindu group members were beating Dalits and the police were just watching from afar,” said protester Sandeep Kamble. “We are demanding the arrest of the culprits.”The protest came a day after thousands of Dalits hurled stones and caused traffic disruption across Mumbai. Dalits have been ostracized by upper-caste Hindus for centuries for jobs they deemed as impure, such as garbage pickers and tannery workers.Those protests followed celebrations by Dalits in Pune, 150 km (95 miles) from Mumbai, on the 200th anniversary of a battle they won, fighting alongside British colonial forces, against an upper-caste ruler. Those celebrations were disrupted by right wing Hindu groups and a 28-year-old man was killed in the clashes, according to the state government.In parts of the Mumbai suburb of Thane, officials banned the assembly of crowds, small or large, to control protesters, who disrupted road and rail services during the morning rush hour.Schools were closed in some cities and internet service was down in places to restrict social media access and the spread of rumors.Fleet taxis, along with cab hailing services like Uber and Ola, were also largely off the roads in Mumbai on Wednesday. Several offices asked employees to work from home.read more

Vehicles make their way through a mud-covered road in Kurashiki, Okayama prefecture, western Japan 9 July. Photo: APThe Japanese government says at least 100 people have died or are presumed dead from the heavy rains, floods and mudslides that have struck western Japan.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference Monday that 68 people were unaccounted for, many of them in the hardest-hit Hiroshima area.Suga said 87 people were confirmed dead and 13 others had no vital signs when they were found as of early Monday.Searches and cleanup efforts were taking place in the southwestern region where several days of heavy rainfall set off flooding and landslides in a widespread area.People are preparing for risky search and cleanup efforts in southwestern Japan, where several days of heavy rainfall had set off flooding and landslides in a widespread area. Japanese media reports said 88 people died and 58 people are missing.Some residents in Hiroshima prefecture said they were caught off guard in a region not used to torrents of rainfall, which began Friday and worsened through the weekend. Rivers overflowed, turning towns into lakes, leaving dozens of people stranded on rooftops. Military paddle boats and helicopters were bringing people to dry land.The assessment of casualties has been difficult because of the widespread area affected. Authorities warned that landslides could strike even after rain subsides as the calamity shaped up to be potentially the worst in decades.read more

“Seeing a top gamer and musician come together on Twitch and unite their large and passionate communities is a cultural moment in terms of building awareness around the appeal of social video,” said Kate Jhaveri, SVP of marketing at Twitch. “And it’s only going to grow from here.”Drake pulled a large number of followers to Twitch after he told his 36.8 million Twitter followers about playing “Fortnite” just before midnight Wednesday: Epic Games’ “Fortnite” is set in a post-apocalyptic future where players have to scavenge for weapons and resources. Ninja posted highlight reel of the gameplay featuring Drake on Thursday morning:POPULAR VIDEO ON VARIETY Drake dropped in to a Twitch gamer’s live-streaming channel on Wednesday night — and ended up busting the record for most concurrent viewers for a single creator the game-casting site.The meeting between Drake, who recently released songs “God’s Plan” and “Diplomatic Immunity,” and Twitch’s Ninja on the Amazon-owned service was a rare mashup of music and video-game worlds. In the multiplayer “Fortnite: Battle Royale” game, Drake and Ninja were joined by rapper Travis Scott and NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster.They played “Fortnite,” a third-person online multiplayer shooter and survival game, for four hours on Twitch — and attracted a peak of 628,000 concurrent viewers, setting a new milestone for viewers on an individual’s channel.Twitch’s previous record for a single-channel stream was 388,000 concurrent viewers, while the Eleague Major: Boston last year set Twitch’s all-time record with 1.1 million concurrent viewers. ×The Hardest Part of Filming Tomb RaiderVolume 90%Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcutsKeyboard Shortcutsplay/pauseincrease volumedecrease volumeseek forwardsseek backwardstoggle captionstoggle fullscreenmute/unmuteseek to %SPACE↑↓→←cfm0-9Next UpNaughty by Nature on Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award Title01:08 facebook twitter reddit Email Linkhttps://variety.com/2018/digital/news/drake-shows-up-on-twitch-breaks-live-streaming-record-1202727867/?jwsource=clCopied EmbedCopiedAuto 720p720p406p270p180pLive00:0000:2000:20More Videos01:08Naughty by Nature on Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award Title02:15Actors Reveal Their Favorite Disney Princesses05:35The Best of Star Wars at D2300:47Bebe Rexha Talked to Sophie Turner About the ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale01:39Mark Cousins’ ‘Women Make Film’ Trailer14:13’It: Chapter Two’ Stars Jessica Chastain and Sophia Lillis Describe Swimming in Fake BloodCloseread more